diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index a82de7a..e58321a 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
 name = "NPZ"
 uuid = "15e1cf62-19b3-5cfa-8e77-841668bca605"
-version = "0.4.3"
+version = "0.4.4"
 
 [deps]
 FileIO = "5789e2e9-d7fb-5bc7-8068-2c6fae9b9549"
+ZipArchives = "49080126-0e18-4c2a-b176-c102e4b3760c"
 ZipFile = "a5390f91-8eb1-5f08-bee0-b1d1ffed6cea"
 
 [compat]
 FileIO = "1"
 ZipFile = "0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 0.10"
+ZipArchives = "2"
 julia = "1.0"
 
 [extras]
diff --git a/src/NPZ.jl b/src/NPZ.jl
index adbf1bb..56216ed 100644
--- a/src/NPZ.jl
+++ b/src/NPZ.jl
@@ -364,92 +364,6 @@ function npzwritearray(f::IO, x::Number)
     npzwritearray(f, reinterpret(UInt8, [x]), typeof(x), ())
 end
 
-"""
-    npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, x)
-
-Write the variable `x` to the `npy` file `filename`. 
-Unlike `numpy`, the extension `.npy` is not appened to `filename`.
-
-!!! warn "Warning"
-    Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
-
-# Examples
-
-```julia
-julia> npzwrite("abc.npy", zeros(3))
-
-julia> npzread("abc.npy")
-3-element Array{Float64,1}:
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 0.0
-```
-"""
-function npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, x)
-    open(filename, "w") do f
-        npzwritearray(f, x)
-    end
-end
-
-"""
-    npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, vars::Dict{<:AbstractString})
-    npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, args...; kwargs...)
-
-In the first form, write the variables in `vars` to an `npz` file named `filename`.
-
-In the second form, collect the variables in `args` and `kwargs` and write them all
-to `filename`. The variables in `args` are saved with names `arr_0`, `arr_1` 
-and so on, whereas the ones in `kwargs` are saved with the specified names.
-
-Unlike `numpy`, the extension `.npz` is not appened to `filename`.
-
-!!! warn "Warning"
-    Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
-
-# Examples
-
-```julia
-julia> npzwrite("temp.npz", Dict("x" => ones(3), "y" => 3))
-
-julia> npzread("temp.npz")
-Dict{String,Any} with 2 entries:
-  "x" => [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
-  "y" => 3
-
-julia> npzwrite("temp.npz", ones(2,2), x = ones(3), y = 3)
-
-julia> npzread("temp.npz")
-Dict{String,Any} with 3 entries:
-  "arr_0" => [1.0 1.0; 1.0 1.0]
-  "x"     => [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
-  "y"     => 3
-```
-"""
-function npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, vars::Dict{<:AbstractString}) 
-    dir = ZipFile.Writer(filename)
-
-    if length(vars) == 0
-        @warn "no data to be written to $filename. It might not be possible to read the file correctly."
-    end
-
-    for (k, v) in vars
-        f = ZipFile.addfile(dir, k * ".npy")
-        npzwritearray(f, v)
-        close(f)
-    end
-
-    close(dir)
-end
-
-function npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, args...; kwargs...)
-    dkwargs = Dict(string(k) => v for (k,v) in kwargs)
-    dargs = Dict("arr_"*string(i-1) => v for (i,v) in enumerate(args))
-
-    d = convert(Dict{String,Any}, merge(dargs, dkwargs))
-
-    npzwrite(filename, d)
-end
-
 # support for FileIO
 load(file::File{format"NPY"}, vars...) = npzread(filename(file), vars...)
 load(file::File{format"NPZ"}, vars...) = npzread(filename(file), vars...)
@@ -457,4 +371,8 @@ load(file::File{format"NPZ"}, vars...) = npzread(filename(file), vars...)
 save(file::File{format"NPY"}, data, vars...) = npzwrite(filename(file), data, vars...)
 save(file::File{format"NPZ"}, data, vars...) = npzwrite(filename(file), data, vars...)
 
+## Includes here
+include("write_npz.jl")
+include("read_lazy.jl")
+
 end # module
diff --git a/src/read_lazy.jl b/src/read_lazy.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba5f727
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/read_lazy.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+using ZipFile
+using NPZ
+import Base: size, eltype, getindex, close
+
+export npzread_lazy
+
+"""
+    LazyNPZ
+
+Struct holding the data of a lazily read .npz file
+"""
+struct LazyNPZ
+    reader::ZipFile.Reader
+    entries::Dict{String,ZipFile.ReadableFile}
+    cache_f::Dict{String, Array}
+    closed::Bool
+
+    function LazyNPZ(reader::ZipFile.Reader, entries::Dict{String,ZipFile.ReadableFile})
+        new(reader, entries, Dict{String,Array}(), false)
+    end
+end
+
+
+function Base.show(io::IO, npz::LazyNPZ)
+    println("LazyNPZ(files=$(keys(npz.entries)),loaded=$(keys(npz.cache_f)))")
+end
+
+function close(npz::LazyNPZ)
+    if !npz.closed
+        close(npz.reader)
+        npz.closed = true
+    end
+end
+
+"""
+    npzread_lazy(filename)
+
+Read an npz file lazily
+"""
+function npzread_lazy(filename::AbstractString)
+    reader = ZipFile.Reader(filename)
+    entries = Dict{String,ZipFile.ReadableFile}()
+
+    for f in reader.files
+        name = _maybetrimext(f.name)
+        entries[name] = f
+    end
+
+    LazyNPZ(reader, entries)
+end
+
+function Base.getindex(npz::LazyNPZ, name::AbstractString)
+    if !in(name,keys(npz.cache_f))
+        if npz.closed
+            error("Key `$name` not found. File is closed so no reads are possible")
+        end
+        if !in(name, keys(npz.entries))
+            ("Array `$name` not found inside the archive")
+        end
+        f = npz.entries[name]
+        arr = npzreadarray(f)
+        npz.cache_f[name] = arr
+    end
+    npz.cache_f[name]
+end
+
+Base.keys(npz::LazyNPZ) = keys(npz.entries)
diff --git a/src/write_npz.jl b/src/write_npz.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b15b070
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/write_npz.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+using ZipArchives: ZipWriter, zip_newfile
+
+"""
+    npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, x)
+
+Write the variable `x` to the `npy` file `filename`. 
+Unlike `numpy`, the extension `.npy` is not appened to `filename`.
+
+!!! warn "Warning"
+    Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
+
+# Examples
+
+```julia
+julia> npzwrite("abc.npy", zeros(3))
+
+julia> npzread("abc.npy")
+3-element Array{Float64,1}:
+ 0.0
+ 0.0
+ 0.0
+```
+"""
+function npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, x)
+    open(filename, "w") do f
+        npzwritearray(f, x)
+    end
+end
+
+"""
+    npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, vars::Dict{<:AbstractString}; compress=false, compression_level=3)
+    npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, args...; compress=false, compression_level=3, kwargs...)
+
+In the first form, write the variables in `vars` to an `npz` file named `filename`.
+
+In the second form, collect the variables in `args` and `kwargs` and write them all
+to `filename`. The variables in `args` are saved with names `arr_0`, `arr_1` 
+and so on, whereas the ones in `kwargs` are saved with the specified names.
+
+Unlike `numpy`, the extension `.npz` is not appened to `filename`.
+
+Use `compress=true` to write the file with Zip compression, at the level specified by `compression_level`.
+
+!!! warn "Warning"
+    Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
+
+# Examples
+
+```julia
+julia> npzwrite("temp.npz", Dict("x" => ones(3), "y" => 3))
+
+julia> npzread("temp.npz")
+Dict{String,Any} with 2 entries:
+  "x" => [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
+  "y" => 3
+
+julia> npzwrite("temp.npz", ones(2,2), x = ones(3), y = 3)
+
+julia> npzread("temp.npz")
+Dict{String,Any} with 3 entries:
+  "arr_0" => [1.0 1.0; 1.0 1.0]
+  "x"     => [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
+  "y"     => 3
+```
+"""
+function npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, vars::Dict{<:AbstractString}; compress=false, compression_level=3)
+    ZipWriter(filename) do outf
+        if length(vars) == 0
+            @warn "no data to be written to $filename. It might not be possible to read the file correctly."
+        end
+        for (name,v) in vars
+            # create new file
+            zip_newfile(outf, name*".npy",compress=compress, compression_level=compression_level)
+            # write the data
+            npzwritearray(outf, v)
+        end
+
+    end
+end
+
+function npzwrite(filename::AbstractString, args...; compress=false,  compression_level=4, kwargs...)
+
+    dkwargs = Dict(string(k) => v for (k,v) in kwargs)
+    dargs = Dict("arr_"*string(i-1) => v for (i,v) in enumerate(args))
+
+    d = convert(Dict{String,Any}, merge(dargs, dkwargs))
+
+    npzwrite(filename, d; compress=compress, compression_level=compression_level)
+end
diff --git a/test/data.npz b/test/data.npz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b934b1
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/data.npz differ
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 8e0c1ee..bde1581 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -132,4 +132,18 @@ end
     @test eltype(hdr["x"]) == eltype(npzread(f, ["x"])["x"])
     @test size(hdr["y"]) == ()
     @test eltype(hdr["y"]) == eltype(npzread(f, ["y"])["y"])
+end
+
+
+@testset "read_npz_lazy" begin
+    
+    ark = NPZ.npzread_lazy("data.npz")
+
+    arr_r = ark["range"]
+    @test arr_r == collect(Int64, 0:99)
+    
+    arr_l = ark["linspace"]
+    @test length(arr_l) == 50
+    @test arr_l[1] == 0.0
+    @test arr_l[50] == 1.0
 end
\ No newline at end of file